And if you say, "Well, I just can't find anybody that's preaching right," then you know what?
You're probably ready to go start your own cult now.
Because that sounds a lot like somebody else I know, Joseph Smith.
All churches are corrupt.
That's what Joseph Smith said.
But yet isn't it amazing today how we have all these so-called Christians today, and
all these know-it-alls today, who don't go to church anywhere, and they say the exact
same thing.
Just all churches are corrupt.
Every church is apostate.
No, they're not.
You're wrong.
There are a lot of churches out there that are preaching the true word of God, and that
are preaching the true gospel of Jesus Christ.
Look, is any church perfect?
No.
But let me tell you something.
There are plenty of godly, Bible-believing churches out there.
It's just that people get puffed up and think that they know everything, and think that
they're better than everybody else, and every church is bad, where everybody's false.
Look, if everybody's false, then you are not right.
And the reason why I say that is because the Holy Ghost has been given unto all believers,
true or false, and part of his ministry is to guide us into all truth, and the Word of
God is readily available in the United States, even at the Dollar Tree, even at Wal-Mart.
We can all pick up a King James Bible.
So if the King James Bible is everywhere in this country, in millions and millions of
homes, thousands and thousands of churches, and if the Holy Ghost is residing in the heart
of every single person who's saved, but only a couple people are right, there's only ten
people who got it right, no, I don't believe that for one second.
And let me tell you something, there is not a single doctrine that I preach.
I defy you to come to me after the service and point to one doctrine that I preach that
is not believed by millions of other people in this world.
You can pick the most radical thing that you think is so radical that I preach, and I can
point to millions of people who believe the same thing.
You know why?
Because the Holy Ghost and the Word of God has led millions of other people to the same
truths that are true spiritual truths.
This spirit that says everybody's wrong, everybody's apostate, that is the Joseph Smith spirit who
baptized himself.
He literally, I mean, nobody's worthy to baptize him, so he baptized himself and started one
of the worst cults ever, the Latter-day Saints.
Acts chapter 20 verse 28, "Take heed therefore unto yourself," why bring all that up?
Because you know what?
We do need leadership, that's why.
We do need people to follow and look to in our early days in Christ.
When you're a babe in Christ, when you're growing up in the word of God, when you're
learning, you need to follow somebody.
That's what the Bible teaches over, how many scriptures have we seen so far?
Pages and pages of notes here.
Let's keep going.
Acts 20 verse 28, "This is Paul, he is just called the elders unto him."
The elders of the church have been called unto him, and he says in verse 28, "Take heed therefore
unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers
to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood."
He says, "Your job is to take the oversight, to be an overseer of the house of God and
to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood.
For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing
the flock.
Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after
them.
Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone
night and day with tears."
Now, we see all three aspects in this passage because remember, what are we preaching about
this morning?
We're talking about the three terms used to describe the pastor in the Bible, bishop,
elder, and overseer.
I'm sorry, good night.
Bishop, elder, and pastor, those are the three biblical words.
It doesn't use the word overseer, but bishop, elder, and pastor, and they have to do with
the three aspects of the ministry of the pastor.
Bishop is overseer, ruler, okay?
Elder speaks to experience, maturity, just the time and experience and knowledge gained.
And then pastor has to do with the ministry of feeding the flock of God and dispersing
that knowledge and making sure that the people are taught well.
That's why the Bible says the pastor must be apt to teach because he has to feed the
flock.
That's why he can't be a novice because he's supposed to be an elder, okay?
And that's not just talking about physical age, that's talking about elder spiritually.
Been saved longer is what that means, okay?
Elder in the Lord.
And then of course the term bishop, overseer.
That's why he said if a man know not how to rule his own house, how should he take care
of the church of God?
You see that the qualifications are pointed toward making sure that whoever fills that
position of pastor can fulfill these three functions.
Now why are these things so important?
Because he says that grievous wolves will enter in not sparing the flock.
Now Jude is one of the most famous passages about people creeping in and bringing in false
doctrine and false teaching.
Second Peter 2 is also a parallel here.
Jude is the other.
It says in Jude verse 11 about these people who creep in, "Woe unto them, for they have
gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward and perished
in the gainsaying of Corrie.
These are spots in your feasts of charity when they feast with you, feeding themselves
without fear, clouds they are without water, carried about of winds, trees whose fruit
withereth without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, raging waves of the sea,
foaming out their own shame, wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness
forever.
So part of the reason why a church needs a bishop or a pastor or an elder is in order
to guard against false doctrine and false teaching.
He says look, you need to feed the flock because there are going to be these grievous wolves
that come in and they're going to bring in damnable heresies, they're going to bring
in false doctrine, they're going to bring in sin and iniquity and things.
And so the pastor is there to be a watchdog to make sure that that doesn't happen.
Well, it takes knowledge and experience to be able to identify the false doctrine.
And it's not going to work for just the pastor to see it.
He has to teach the people so that all the people will be able to spot false doctrine
right away.
That way everybody's vigilant, everybody's being sober because the people in the pew
have been taught the doctrine.
Not just, "Well, the pastor knows the doctrine and nobody else."
No, that's why he has to be able to teach the doctrine unto the people.
And obviously just an overseer is just watching to make sure that the doctrine stays correct.